Maggie's Farm

The only thing that distinguishes men from boys is the expense of their toys...and pastimes. Hope you had a nice dinner. You do deserve it, altho if it were me I would have wanted to eat only game I had shot myself. And challenge the chef to make a surprise out of the contents of four or five freezers.

Here is how I fed five hungry adults for $7 tonight (remember your frugal Yankee roots, Luke, feel the force!) tonight (Saturday is always the feast night here):

1 chicken (from Costco, roasted at home with a lemon and a head of garlic inside, frequently basted)

8 individual loaves of homemade honey oatmeal bread (you neeed to start at least 3 hours before dinner time). Rich with butter and eggs, but we will keep quiet about those lest the cholesterol shy refuse to enjoy...Plenty of butter on it. Use the Irish steel cut oatmeal, partially cooked so it doesn't crack a tooth, for chewy texture.

Baby lettuce salad (does anyone leave Costco without it?) with homemade balsamic vinaigrette (with whatever potted herbs have survived the winter indoors)

Baked home grown spaghetti squash still perfect from last summer (organic lasts at room temperature all winter) with garlic and olive oil

It might surprise you luxuriating gentlemen, but some people in this world, my family included, prefer plain home cooking to fancy gourmet feasts. I like going out to eat myself, but mainly to get new ideas for things to cook.

Other favorite frugal meals are garlic and lemon chicken with rice and corn soup ($2.50 to feed 5), Ham and lentil and vegetable stew with cornbread ($4 to feed 5), Curried dal and homemade wholewheat flatbread ($3 for 5)

Alas, predictably, everyone in my family could stand to lose a few pounds...

Maybe that is why some men marry women who are bad cooks--they won't have to worry about gaining weight as they age. Whereas my mashed potatoes and Yorkshire pudding and chocolate almond torte are to die for...

And with the money we save, we can buy more books, books, books and save up for a new computer.

Ho-hum, truth be told, I do occasionally envy people able to eat out and be cooked for by others. The family set upon tonight's dinner like jackals, while I daydreamed of a snowy white tablecloth with a rose in a bud vase, and a delicious fish dinner served on hot plates, and someone else to clean it all up.

Time to go clean up the kitchen. As I daily remind my children "The thing is to earn enough money so somebody else has to do the dirty work for you..." Fat chance--mine want to be writers, artists or humanitarians. Not a feral money-hungry instinct in the lot of them!